Assessment of emotional and administrative support services in the reformation and rehabilitation of prison inmates: a case study of the Sunyani Central Prisons
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Date
JULY, 2015
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Abstract
Imprisonment in its actuality deprives inmates of their fundamental human rights to a very large extent. Prisoners are made to live in a world of restriction and self-denial. Due to the strict standards and high security implications of the Ghana Prisons Service, very little studies have been conducted in this area of research hence the researcher took the advantage of accessibility as an officer of the Prisons Service to fill the research gap with this study. This research study was conducted at the Sunyani Central Prison due to accessibility and availability of data as well as time and resource constraints. Qualitative research method which included participant observation and individual in-depth interviews were used in obtaining the findings of this study. In all, fifteen (15) respondents consisting of ten (10) Prison officers, two (2) Social Workers and three (3) ex-convicts participated in the study. It was established that emotional support and administrative support for inmates help a lot in reforming and rehabilitating them. It was discovered the prisons are inadequately resourced to offer vocational and technical training to the inmates. Some inmates have never received any visit from any family member since their incarceration. The study again revealed that there had been some instances that officers compromised their professional standards to traffic items to inmates, thereby leading to strict sanctions. Also, it was found that some inmates prefer the life in prison to that outside, hence they become recidivist. It is therefore recommended that, governments, families, prison officers, and all and sundry should offer emotional and administrative support to inmates so as to ensure their successful reformation and rehabilitation. Governments and policy makers should review the law that prohibits ex-convicts from employment in state owned institutions. Also, it is recommended that government should channel some of the projects it embarks on, such as the construction of public buildings, schools, classroom furniture, school uniforms and others to the Ghana Prison Service as contracts to help the service generate internal income to support its operations.
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A thesis submitted to The Department of Marketing and Corporate Strategy of The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the award of the degree of Master of Business Administration (Strategic Management and Management Consulting).